Hop Cast

In episode 84 of the Hop Cast, Brad Chmielewski & Ken Hunnemeder open up a couple rare bottles from Hair Of The Dog. The first bottle they open is the Rose, a Tripel with an ABV of 7.60%. If you are used to the Fred and Adam watch out because the Rose is a crazy and odd beast. Brad and Ken then follow the Rose up with a huge bottle of Matt that Maura Price and Ted Collins sent from Portland, OR. The Matt was brewed to celebrate Bottleworks 10th Anniversary. The Matt honors the two Matts of Brouwers and Bottleworks fame in Seattle, Washington and their contributions to the local craft beer community. Aged in 33 year old Bourbon barrels and Apple Eau de Vie barrels for about one year. At 11.50%, this American Strong Ale shouldn’t be drunk alone. Once again a couple of amazing beers from Alan Sprints over at Hair Of The Dog. If you happen to stumble across either one of these beers be sure to pick them up and grab one for us too.

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This years Three Floyds Dark Lord day was much better then last year. I’m not just saying that because Ken & I ended up leaving with some bottles of Dark Lord this year. The line to buy Dark Lord moved so much quicker. We ended up getting there at about 12:00, Don and Mitchell Radlund had gotten there before us and already had a place in line. Ken and I dropped off the beer we brought to trade and share and ran off to get a sample of the Dark Lord 09. The golden ticket allowed a free Dark Lord sample of the 09 version. The line for this took about 30 minutes to make it through and that was around 12:30 pm. At that time they hadn’t tapped any of the guest beers so the choices were Dark Lord or the standard Three Floyds line. So I could understand why everyone was in that line. Once we finally had our Dark Lord we got back in the main line to share the samples. The beer was great! Much more drinkable and more balanced then last years. While drinking the sample we traded a few beers and bought some tamales from a lady selling them. If you didn’t get tamales from this lady you should feel lucky, some of the worst I have ever had. But it was food and I didn’t want to wait in the food line until after I had bottles of Dark Lord in my hands. The line was moving pretty quickly. Maeve and Mitchell said they would hold our spot in line while Ken, Don and myself went to buy some Popskull. Having a separate place to buy the other beers was a great idea. There was no line for this so it was very easy to walk up and get a few other beers you wanted to pick up that day. At this point our spot in line was only about 100 people away from the Dark Lord bottles… I quickly ran back to the car to drop off some of our stuff and then as soon as I got back they were walking in to buy Dark Lord. All of us got out Golden Ticket limit of four bottles. They had a lot more people taking cash and giving out beer this year which I think was helping the line move faster. Dark Lord was now in hand and it was time to drop it off at the car and enjoy some more of the festival.

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The beer continued to flow all day. Along with the Dark Lord 09 sample we were able to sample the oak-aged and Vanilla Bean 2009 Dark Lord. These were on tap at the same place as the guest beers. The guest beer area was in a terrible location and was just a crowed mess. Some of the guest beers we were able to try were the Vintage Harvest Ale, Canadian Breakfast Stout and Oak-Aged with cherries Behemoth. I didn’t get to try any of the Stone beers which was a bummer, but there was so much other stuff I don’t think I missed it. One of the worst lines we stood in was the line to get into the brewpub but the payoff was huge. Inside the Three Floyds brewpub they had the 2008 Dark Lord and the Vanilla Bean and oak-aged version of that. Unfortunately the Vanilla Bean 2008 was gone by the time we got in. But the oak-aged 2008 was fabulous. They also had a ton of other beers inside to try… I could see why this line was so long and moved so slow. Around 4:00 / 5:00 pm they started selling more Golden Tickets to buy more Dark Lord. I still had some cash so figured I would grab another four to trade and share with people. In the end I walked away with a good amount of Dark Lord. Very happy with this years event. Three Floyds stepped it up big time after the disappointment of last year.

Something Three FloydsThree Floyds should think about is moving the food tent and line away from the brew pub line. All the lines got very confusing at points, something to separate things might of helped. Next year I might hang out and drink and then just grab my beer before I leave. No real need to wait in the line when you have a golden ticket.

In episode 31 of the Hop Cast Ken Hunnemeder and Brad Chmielewski are joined by Mitchell & Don Radlund. In this episode the four of them sample and review two bourbon barrel beers from Kentucky.The first beer the four of them review is the Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel from Bluegrass Brewing. They follow the Bluegrass Brewing up with an Imperial Stout from the recently closed Browning’s Brewery.

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